SAEN has discovered that while Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU)
ranks third nationally for federal research grant dollars, it ranks
number one for primate injuries. This facility imprisons approximately
3000 primates.

An audit of research funding by SAEN lists OHSU third nationally
behind only the University of Washington and Harvard. OHSU was given
approximately ¼ billion dollars by the NIH for animal research during a
single year. Over 60% of NIH research funding at OHSU is for animal
experiments, making the university more financially dependent on
animal-based projects than any other U.S. lab.

But while OHSU receives the third highest funding total for animal
research, primates within the labs are trying to maim themselves and
each other. Recently obtained internal OHSU documents reveal high rates
of death, severe traumatic injuries, and psychological abnormalities
within the OHSU primate center.

During the most recent reporting year, 1601 traumatic injuries
occurred at the OHSU primate center which required medical treatment.
OHSU officials attribute these injuries to inter-primate contact. Also,
over 15% (180) of the indoor-housed primates at OHSU are psychologically
abnormal.

441 primates died at OHSU during the 2003 – 2004 reporting year,
while the Primate Center brought over $146 million in funding to the
university.

“Virtually all OHSU primate research is scientifically meaningless,
because it is performed on primates that are so psychologically abnormal
that their levels of stress would severely alter their physiology,”
added Budkie. “The only truly meaningful way to study primates is in
their natural environment.”